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Siesta still leading the way

“It was the best July we ever had,” Virginia Haley, president of the Sarasota Convention and Visitors Bureau, reported to the County Commission.

The ranking for Siesta Public Beach has produced higher tourist tax collections for the county than the SCVB saw in fiscal year 2007-08, one of the county’s best, Haley said.

“We even clobbered that year,” she said. “We have just tirelessly promoted this No. 1 beach, and it’s really paying off.”

In August, a national organization that surveys accommodations found Sarasota County had the best percentage increase in occupancy of hotel rooms, the best average daily room rate and the highest revenue per available room, beating all the areas with which it is compared, including St. Petersburg/Clearwater, Naples and Fort Myers.